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The capsule that will carry Austrian skydiver Felix Baumgartner to 120,000 feet in an attempt to beat a 52-year-old freefall record is "mission-ready," the Red Bull Stratos team said on Tuesday. Five years in the making, the capsule's retro-futuristic design recalls the Apollo spacecraft, but the materials and science that went into its construction are state-of-the-art. The 2,900-pound spacecraft will be carried aloft by a helium balloon. After Baumgartner jumps, the balloon tether will be severed and a recovery chute will float the capsule back to Earth. The record attempt will launch from New Mexico. The team has not announced a launch window.

The capsule will protect Baumgartner from stratospheric temperatures reaching 70 degrees below zero, and creates a stable oxygenated and pressurized environment during the ascent to help avoid decompression sickness, according to Red Bull. The craft will also act as a stable base for his step-off into free-fall. The capsule is also designed to capture "valuable scientific data to advance aerospace research," Red Bull said. The free-fall record is currently held by Joe Kittinger, who is an advisor to the project. He jumped from a height of 102,800 feet in 1960.

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Picture of the Week

As aviation photos go, this was the best this week but there are some great beauty shots when you click through. In the meantime, congratulations to Daniel Gillette for this very nice photo he calls Sunset Pitch-Out. The photo is copyrighted by Gillette.